UPDATE: There will be an Open House tomorrow (5/30/2012) between 5:00PM and 8:00PM to discuss the upcoming Downtown Bikeway Network. The event will be held at Aiso Plaza (Judge John Aiso Street & 1st Street). For more information, click here.

First St. at the last CicLAvia. This stretch will have bike lanes in the next two months.

We hope everyone had a great Bike to Work Day! Special thanks to all the riders and pit stop volunteers that made the week’s festivities possible. Hope everyone got to enjoy their Cliff Bars and other promo items at the various pit stops!

We’re happy to report that within the next three months, LADOT will be installing the highly anticipated complimentary northbound lane to Spring St. on Main St. from 9th to Cesar Chavez, giving Downtown L.A. a true north-south backbone for its burgeoning bicycle network. While Main St. is an important facility, it is just another piece of the downtown Bikeway network coming together.

Existing Downtown LA Bikeway Network

0-6 Months Out

Within six months you can expect Los Angeles St. to get bike lanes from Alameda St. to First St, providing a direct bicycle connection to the region’s preeminent transit destination, Los Angeles Union Station. The lanes on Los Angeles will be complimented by new lanes on First Street between Grand Ave. and San Pedro St. The First Street bike lane will connect with the Spring St. and Main St bike lanes, as well as the Metro Red/Purple Line Civic Center Station, LAPD Headquarters, City Hall, LADOT, and the Music Center.

Further west and south, Olive St. and Grand Ave. between 7th St. and Washington Blvd. will also be getting bike lanes. An analysis of the traffic patterns there revealed that Olive and Grand were ideal candidates for bike lanes because they have more than sufficient service capacity for existing traffic volumes. This allows us to implement the facilities without any significant impacts. Olive and Grand will be installed as a couplet (Olive will have a northbound bike lane and Grand will have a southbound one). They will connect with future facilities along 7th St., 11th St. and Venice Blvd. (more on these facilities below).

0-6 month bikeway network

7-12 months out

Seven to 12 months out, projects covered under the scope of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) Package One list will proceed through the review process. Projects included in this list include the ever popular 7th St. bike lanes that would continue existing facilities eastward through downtown from their current terminus at Figueroa St. to Soto St. out in Boyle Heights. Figueroa St. east of 7th would also get bike lanes to Cesar Chavez Ave. Cesar Chavez would get bike lanes from Figueroa St. to Mission Rd.

A very exciting connection for communities to the north of downtown will be on 2nd Street, which would stretch from Glendale Blvd. to Broadway and utilize the 2nd Street Tunnel to get bicyclists directly into downtown. The 2nd Street facility wouldl also connect with bike lanes on Main St. and Spring St. Venice Blvd. would also be getting 4.5 miles of bike lanes from Main St. to San Vicente Blvd, creating a nearly 13 mile long bikeway that stretches from Venice to Downtown L.A. (Be sure to express your support for these projects to your council member).

7-12 Month bikeway network

13+ Months

13+ months from now, we can look forward to the MyFigueroa project along the Figueroa corridor, stretching from west of 7th St. in Downtown L.A. through South Park and onto Exposition Park. Projects on 11th St. and Flower St. (awaiting construction to finish on the Regional Connector Project) will further build out the downtown bikeway network. Be sure to tell us what you think about these projects in the comments section below.